This is part of a panel from a room-sized hand-appliqued wall covering. You can see in its middle a flap that, like a curtain or a blind, which lifts up to reveal what is outside. It currently covers the four walls of a room at the Victoria & Albert Museum, part of its large, exciting,colorful, surprising and informative exhibition, "The Fabric of India," --the first such show of its kind.
Everything was made by hand--whether for temples, festivals, home decoration, courtiers or kings or I should say Sultans and Maharajahs. It is never dull--well except for the saris which while sometimes made of lovely fabric look so boring on the lifeless mannequins. (With the exception of wizards like those responsible for the Alexander McQueen exhibitions, it usually takes warm bodies to make clothes interesting.
There is politics and its side kick economics too. India did a thriving global trade in fabrics until the mills of Manchester put many of the hand weavers and embroiders of India out of work. Gandhi took up their cause. Spinning and wearing hand- woven cloth became part of his political program. The role of fabrics in India's fight for independence is a small but gripping part of this exhibition. It is welcome, too, that dumb luck has a small role. .
The wall hanging shown above was found one evening in 1994 by a fellow strolling down the street in New York. Back in the days before eBay people in New York routinely through stuff out onto the streets when their apartments became too cluttered. Few had access to attics and basement so turfing out was normal. A lot of what was tossed really was trash but quite a bit only seemed like junk to the disposer. We are lucky that this man passed by before the garbage trucks; that now we can see this terrific hanging on display==and a great deal more that was made by hand==spun, woven,embroidered, dyed and painted by men and women in India. The shop has covetable examples of the work they are doing today. Temptation there is, and I fell.
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